Second chance for TEC-over chiefs

Patchy performances highlighted in final report on training and enterprise councils.

THE leaders of some of England's worst-performing training and enterprise councils will be prominent in the organisations that are to replace them.

Around half the chairmen and chief executives appointed to the 47 new local learning and skills councils have TEC backgrounds. Fresh figures reveal that some of them presided over unsatisfactory National Vocational Qualifications results and equal opportunities.

The figures are revealed in the last set of TEC performance indicators to be published before they are abolished and their training role is taken over by the new councils in April 2001. Overall, they show that 65 out of every 100 young people to leave TEC-funded training obtained avocational qualification. The figures, released by the Government last week, compare performance in a number of areas, including results, equal opportunities for disabled and ethnic minorities and trainee satisfaction.

In Yorkshire and Humberside, three of the four new councils will be led by former TEC directors, even though TECs in the region had some of the worst results. Yorkshire and Humberside had the lowest achievement rate for NVQs in the country (58 per cent), the lowest customer-satisfaction rating (77 per cent compared with 81 per cent nationally), and the cost per job per adult was nearly pound;10,000 - almost pound;2000 more than the national aerage.

Other chief executives and chairs will go on to serve on the new councils even though their TECS received less-than-glowing end of term reports.

Hertfordshire TECs chief executive Roy Bain and chair Stelio Stefanou both go to equivalent jobs in the county's LSC. But although it scored highly for adult achievement, for young people it had the worst record in every category of equal opportunities in the east of England and was at or below the national average in every aspect of its work-based training.

The figures also reveal that people leaving training schemes in Hertfordshire are more than twice as likely to get a job if they are not from ethnic minority groups.

South and east Cheshire TEC chief executive Liz Davies becomes executive director of the Greater Manchester LSC and her chair Brian Fleet takes charge of the board of Cheshire and Warrington. But despite above-average NVQ achievement for young people, the organisation they leave behind had one of the worst records in the North-west for equal opportunities employment of adults.

Birmingham and Solihull, Norfolk, and Leicesterhire, the other three TECs whose chairs and directors transfer to the new councils showed better results.

The chair and chief executive of Tyneside TEC, which had the second lowest NVQ achievement rate (at 50 per cent) in the country, have both been appointed chairs of local learning and skills councils.

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